Monthly Archives: March 2011

What you are looking at is a post from 3eanuts, a blog that removes the final frame from Charles M. Schulz’s famous comic strip series Peanuts. The blog’s author posits: Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comics often conceal the existential despair of their world with a closing joke at the characters’ expense. With the last panel omitted, despair pervades all. This is rightly so as Schulz’s comics do suggestdeeply felt existential crises within his comics’ frames (for a clean, tight definition of this philosophy, read the third paragraph on Stanford’s Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Existentialism). (Note: Look, I’m hooking you up with amazing academic resources. I educate and entertain.)

I chose this particular strip because I feel that Lucy’s monologue reveals the current issue that propels us to question our existence. The issue is this: We know too much, and we don’t know what to do with this knowledge. We also no longer know who to trust, from the politicians to the video editor, bringing you to the forefront of Libya’s revolution, to even ourselves. We are living in stimulating times. Knowledge of philosophy, religion, science and politics comes to us hard and fast via the images we are lambasted with from the media. And we can’t get away from it.

I’m talking about the general malaise (a general uneasiness) you wake up with, wrestle with or push back into the depths of your head via Facebook, drinking or by actively doing anything. It’s that voice in your head that pops up every so often and asks, “Just what are you doing with yourself?”, “How do you fit in?” or even worse, “Who are you?” And it’s these questions that are becoming harder to forget as we find ourselves as burgeoning adults, hesitantly (if you agree with me) about to enter what they call the “real world”.

Sometimes I like to dream about a time before print, before the radio and, most importantly, the internet. I acquiesce to the generally held idea that a smaller world meant a simpler life. Maybe you can still live on these terms, and not get muddled with everything else that subverts our attention, our identities and, consequently, our existence. If you can, then I earnestly wish you luck and good health, but for the rest of us, well, we’ll see. The question then becomes: So what do we do about all of this? How do we live on in a world that demands more from us than we know what to do with?

Well, the only thing I got to say is to love. Love people, love whatever you do and try your damned hardest not to get held down. And I’m not going to say that’s simple. I will say this, however. Haters gonna hate. And if haters gonna hate, then you know what that means right? Players still gonna have to play. Here’s the deal.

There is a fellow student in this class that is getting married soon, who, in discussion, revealed that she is marrying her high school sweetheart. However, as we were reading the Julie and Julia Project, we guffawed at the notion that high school sweetheart marriages eventually fall through. She made this post here, detailing the experience and her take on the issue. She writes:

Marriage has little to nothing to do with when you met the person you’re marrying. It has everything to do with a decision to commit to a person for the rest of your life. Agreeing to get married is agreeing to deal with each others bullshit, wash each others laundry, sit in the same room together when you have gas, deal with the dreaded in-law’s, laugh together, possibly make children together, and so much more. How that decision is affected by meeting each other in high school is truly beyond me.

First, I wish her (you) an amazing wedding and life! After reading this post, I found myself feeling a hope and motivation that comes around rarely, the kind that reveals itself with a few beers, good friends and a night of no bullshit conversation. So what if she decided to forgo the glamorized 20’s single life (I mean, doesn’t Sex and the City kind of suck anyway? Seriously. Sarah Jessica Parker’s acting career is based on this lifestyle. If that isn’t sad in itself, then what isn’t?)? If this is the right decision for her, then damn, so be it, and go on with your life.

However, marriage might not be the answer to you, reader. You may find this kind of raison d’être in other things. The point is, is that while we have to wade through all this baggage, you must create your meaning. And it’s hard.

So, as I close with an answer as ambiguous as the world we live in, we remember Charlie Brown. If anything, he is a mirror, an example of a place where we all find ourselves in at points in our lives. As my boy Nathan Radke says in his existential reading of Schulz’s beloved Peanuts:

But Peanuts also demonstrates the optimism of the philosophy. Why does Charlie Brown continue to go out to the pitcher’s mound, despite his 50 year losing streak? Why try to kick the football, when Lucy has always pulled it away at the last second? Because there is an infinite gap between the past and the present. Regardless of what has come before, there is always the possibility of change. Monstrous freedom is a double edged sword. We exist, and are responsible. This is both liberating and terrifying.

I was told once that swearing is a combination of laziness and ignorance – that idiots use it because they’re not educated enough to articulate themselves otherwise.

Well I got two things to say to that:
We’re all lazy and ignorant.

A “shit” after spilling your coffee is catharsis in a four-letter shotgun shell. And “forget” you if you’ve not had a verbal reaction to that. You’ve got to at least say something. I’ve yet to spill anything without a verbal reaction, though I could do with a physical reaction like cleaning it up immediately instead of swearing. It’d definitely be productive, that’s for sure. But damn it, I just spilt coffee all over myself.

But you know what? I actually kind of agree it’s lazy and ignorant. It’s lazy and ignorant if you go ahead and spew these special words everywhere you go.

Do you actually listen to the bro who’s swearing all the damn time? The guy who curses so much that George Carlin’s doing a couple figure 8’s in his grave? No, you don’t. You’ll think the guy’s funny for a while. Maybe you’ll invite him out for drinks with your buddies just so you can ask the guy: “So how do you feel about [insert current state of politics/the world]?” He’ll won’t hesitate to say what’s on his mind. Because, after all, people that embrace swearing love the government because it gives them the license to say whatever they want and as vulgar as they want. Sure, you’ll have someone in your arsenal who wouldn’t hesitate to say, “This corndog tastes like a monkey’s refried dookie”, or, “Man, that Hosni Mubarak’s got a pyramid up his dictatorishly tight asshole!” But take notice that both of these statements are in some degree of complaint. That’s the deal with frequent flyer swearers. Their modus operandi is, “Life is shit, so I’m going to complain”. And no one likes a complainer.

You see where I’m getting at? His unapologetic energy is charming at first, but at the end this bro’s a drag. And yes, swearing is something to be respected. Save it for when it’s appropriate, when your swearing toolset is matured and complaints relevant. Be the person who works quietly and efficiently, but when the boss slips up, you’re the first to speak up. And when you release your finely tuned string of swears, you’ll be rewarded with the love of your coworkers and respect from your superiors, wondering if they should call Human Resources or Payroll to see if they can afford you a raise.

So let’s bring it back. Let’s bring it back to the first time you heard your dad call the guy who cut in front of him, “a motherless ‘forget’hole”. We’ve already lost the word “love”. Don’t do the same with the next best word we’ve got.